Postcolonial Studies is more often found looking back at the past, but in this brand new book, Bill Ashcroft looks to the future and the irrepressible demands of utopia. The concept of utopia – whether playful satire or a serious proposal for an ideal community – is examined in relation to the postcolonial and the communities with which it engages. Studying a very broad range of literature, poetry and art, with chapters focussing on specific regions – Africa, India, Chicano, Caribbean and Pacific – this book is written in a clear and engaging prose which make it accessible to undergraduates as well as academics. This important book speaks to the past and future of postcolonial scholarship.
1. Utopia, Travel and Empire 2. Heimat Anticipation and Postcolonial Literatures 3. The Ambiguous Necessity of Utopia 4. Remembering the Future: Time and Utopia in African Literature 5. Beyond the Nation-State 6. Writing and Re-Writing India 7. Borderland Heterotopia: Aztlan and the Chicano Nation 8. Archipelago of Dreams: Utopianism in Caribbean Literature 9. Oceanic Hope: Utopianism in the Pacific 10. Settler Colony Utopianism
Biography
Bill Ashcroft is an Australian Professorial Fellow in the University of New South Wales, Australia. He is author and co-author of sixteen books, including the seminal text The Empire Writes Back, and is one of the leading figures in Postcolonial Studies.
